Although the provocative possibilities of acupuncture analgesia have generated much recent interest and attention, the evidence supporting its efficacy is largely testimonial. The purpose of the investigation proposed here is to conduct a series of controlled experimental and clinical studies, all designed to generate information which can help answer the question of whether acupuncture is efficacious as an analgesic, and, if so, under what circumstances, with what kinds of pain, and in what kinds of test subjects. Specific aspects of that broad and complex question will be studied initially under controlled laboratory conditions using pain-induction procedures for which we have a rich accumulation of baseline data. Pain will be induced experimentally by the Submaximum Effort Tourniquet Technique and by electric shock and radiant heat procedures. Those experimental studies will be followed by studies of the efficacy of acupuncture for control of dental pain associated with procedures varying in pain intensity from the mild or moderate pain of deep scaling, tooth preparation, and periodontal procedures, to the severe pain produced by oral surgical procedures. We will study specific features of acupuncture technique, characteristics of test subjects, characteristics of acupuncturists, and other variables which might account for effects observed after application of acupuncture.